Tales & Traditions: Miss Rodeo Oklahoma- Vinita, OK

Calli Newman is our 2017 Miss Rodeo Oklahoma and it's truly an honor to have her let me into her heart, and barn, to learn about how she overcame obstacles and made her wildest dreams come true..

Take a look into Calli's story here:

“A rodeo queen isn’t just a public relations person for the sport of rodeo. She is also a PR person for everyone involved in rodeo; the farmers and ranchers who provide the livestock, the veterinarians and anyone who helps put the show on,” described Newman.

Calli stated that doing anything to make the rodeo move smoother is part of a rodeo queen’s job.

“It’s a big circle and each and every person is just as important as the last,” said Newman.

The circle involves everyone from the stock contractors, contestants, and rodeo queens to the farmers who grow the corn for feed and the ranchers who produce the cattle for the stock. A circle that is less obvious to those unfamiliar with agriculture and western sport.

“We must have the producers, not only in our industry, to provide for the sport of rodeo. Those animals are our livelihood. We have to be able to promote that. It’s a dying breed,” admitted Newman. “Our farming and ranching industry is declining and we have to be able to promote it.”

To some the industry may be a dying breed but as long as we have rodeo queens - just like Calli - promoting her way of life, the western culture will be alive and well.

“The agriculturalists, the farmers, we have to have them to feed our cattle, to feed our horses,” said Newman.

For many, the connection between ranching and rodeo is less clear than other inner industry ties. But when it comes down to it, rodeo is an ode to the western way of life and where it all began - the ranch.

“We must have cattle. Those cattle have to be doctored, they have to be worked,” said Newman. “Rodeo creates an image of what it’s like working cattle on the range. The horses aren’t born ready to be ridden. They have to be broke. That’s what the rough stock events represent.”

Read the full story and see ALL of the never before seen photos in my upcoming book 'Tales and Traditions: the Steadfast Faces of Agriculture.' Details on the release date and how to purchase will be announced as soon as possible.